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NEW HISTORY 



BATTLE OF BUiNKER HILL, 

June 17, 1775, 

Its Purpose, Conduct, and Result 



BY 

WILLIAM W. WHEILDON. 



Rkpuinted from " The Boston Daily Herald." 
revised and enlarged. 



SECOND EDITION. /^^''" *" ^''?o\ 

/:>'^CCf^YR!SHT''fA 
--{ 1875 c/) 



BOSTON : 

LEE J^ISTID SHEI^J^iaiD. 

NENV YORK: 
LEE, SHEPAUD, & DILLINGHAM. 

1875. 
Vv V\v V^ , 



Copyright, 

By William W. Wheildun, 

1875. 






FRASKI.IN I'UF.SS : 

RAND, AVliUY, AND COMl'ANY, 

BOSTOS. 



ORDER OF NARRATION. 



INTRODUCTION. 



I. Purpose of the Battle. 

Boston to bo entereil. 

II. Resume of History. 

Arrival of Gen. Gage. 
Continental Congress. 
Defeat of the Tories. 
Condition and Position of Boston 
" No business but that of War. " 
Proposed intrenchniDnt. 
Alarm in Njw York. 
Providing for the Poor. 

III. Preparing for the Contest. 
Proceedings Committee of Safety. 
Report of Joint Committee. 
Further action of Committee. 
Joint action of committees. 
Orders to cumman.lers. 
Amount of Force. 
Disposition of the Army. 

IV. The Movement. 

Prayer and march. 
Selection of Breed's Hill. 
The IJcdoubt. 
The Rail fence. 
Order to the Rail fence. 
Commencement of day's work. 
Contemplating ths sjcno. 
Re-enforcements required. 

V. Boston side of the River. 

The alarm in the town. 
Council of War. 
Movement of the Troops. 
Embarkation. 
Appearance of Troops. 
Reconnoitring and Refreshments. 
Re-enforcements— Speech of Gen. 
Howe. 



VI. The Engagement. 
First Repulse at the Redoubt. 
Attack at the Rail fence. 
Second attack and Repulse. 
The Third Rally. 

VII. Accounts of the Battle. 
British Account. 

Account of Provincial Congress. 
Account of Committee of Safety. 
Private Reports of the Battle. 
The Dead on the Field. 
Col. Prescott's Account. 
Gen. Gage's Account. 
Casualties on the Field. 
British Returns. 
Provincial Returns. 

Vni. Burning of Charlestown. 
The fire from Copp's Hill. 
Set on fire by to:-clics. 
The scene of the flames. 
The fate of Charlestown. 

IX. General Warren. 
His presence as a vountccr. 
Death of Warren. 

X. Remarks on the Battle. 

Two distinct engagements. 
Eifect of tlie battle on Evacuaticn. 
Question of Commander in chief. 

XI. Boston and Charlestown. 

Old map of Ooston. 
CharlestoAvn in Flames, (map.) 

XII. Boston after the Battle. 

What the Commanders thought. 
Evacuation of the town. 
Boston and Charlestown. 
Town Hill, the bridges, kc. 



APPKOxniATE DIVISION OF TIME during the battle. End of the Fighting. 



John Adams, relerrinjr to Mr. Lynch, one of the Delegates from Virginia, 
(sp?alcing cf Washington as an orator,) says, — " He told us that Washington 
made the most eloquent speech at the Virginia convention that ever was made. 
Says he "I will raise one thousand troops, subsist them at my own expense, 
and march to the relief of Boston." 

" In that day of general affection and brotherhood, the blow given to Boston 
smote on every patriotic heart from one end of the country to the other." * * 
"The 17th of June saw the four New England Colonies standing here, side by 
side, to triumph or to fall together ; and there was with them from that mo- 
ment to the end of the war, what I hope will remain with them forever, one 
cause, one country, one heart." [Webster, ]825. 

" This day thirty years since, I was at the taking of Louisbourg, when it 
was surrendered to us ; it is a fortunate day for America : we shall certainly 
beat them !" [Capt. Trevett to Major Gridley. 

•' The consequences of this battle were just of the same importance as the 
revolution itself." [Webster. 



In^ew history 



BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 



INTRODUCTION. 

The remarkable movement which led to the Battle of 
Bui^KER Hill, — an engagement almost as national in its 
results as the Declaration of Independence, — was as 
great a surprise to Gen. Gage, to say the least of it, as 
was his excursion to Concord to the provincials. The two 
together covered that gi-eat step, which it required just 
two months to take, from peace to war : not provincial, 
not colonial, but continental. The Battle of Bunker Hill 
— certainly rather the occupation of Bunker Hill — was 
distinctly one of the measures contemplated for driving 
Gen. Gage and his army out of Boston, for the relief of 
that distressed town and the colony. Putnam, it is agreed, 
urged it upon Gen. Ward, while Warren was present, and 
Warren said, " I admire your spirit, and respect Gen. 
Ward's prudence : ive shall need them both." And at 
another time, when the great pall of civil war was hang- 
ing over the country, he said, "almost thou persuadest me, 
Gen. Putnam ; but I must still think the project a rash 
one." This was on or about the 15th of June, when 



4 BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 

Warren fully participated in the general wish to drive 
Gage out of the colony. 

This, in fact, is what the army, which had assenit)led at 
Cambridge at the call of the Congress and the Committee 
of Safety, was intended to accomplish ; and the action, it 
is now well known, was hurried on by a knowledge of 
what Gen. Gage, on the day after the battle, was prepared 
to undertake. It will probably not be denied that there 
were some mistakes of commission or omission made at 
the time, according to human judgment; and there are 
some things which, it seems to us, are not, and perhaps 
never will be, understood. We propose to speak of the 
battle, however, not altogether as generally described and 
regarded, but in its connection, as it appears to us, with 
the true history of the times, — from the eighteenth day 
of April, when there was peace, to the eighteenth day of 
June, when there was war. 



BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL. 



I. PURPOSE OF THE BATTLE. 

BOSTON TO BE ENTERED. 

The importance of the Battle of Bunker Hill, and to 
which it owes its national interest, is found in the fact that 
it was the opening of the Revolutionary War, which tvas 
the great incident of the terrible conflict. The movement, 
however, like that of Gen. Gage upon Concord, had an 
object, which, in both cases, became wholly subordinate to 
the issue. Boston had long been suffering by the presence 
of an army, and no arm had been raised for her relief. 
Gage, it was known, was determined to strike a blow upon 
the country, and was only waiting for re-enforcements, 
when John Hancock, in his hurried letter from Worces- 
ter, on his way to Congress, on the 24th of April, 1775, 
gave both expression and direction to the patriotic feelings 
of the people in declaring that, — 

"BOSTON MUST BE ENTERED. The Troops 
MUST BE SENT AWAY, or . Our friends are valua- 
ble, BUT our country MUST BE SAVED. I have an 
interest in that town. What can be the enjoyment of that 
to me, if I am obliged to hold it at the will of Gen. Gage, 
or any one else ? . . . We must have the Castle — the 
ships must be ." 



RESUME OF HISTORY. 



II. RESUME OF HISTORY. 

ARRIVAL OF GEN. GAGE. — CONTINENTAL CONGRESS. 

Gen. Gage landed in Boston on the seventeenth day ol 
May, 1774, and in exactly one month from that day, on 
the 17th of June, in the General Assembly, which, by 
order of the king, he had removed to Salem, Sam Adams 
shut the door in the face of his secretary ; and then, mani- 
festing the spirit of their great leader, the assembly delib- 
erately proceeded to appoint a Continental Congress at 
Philadelphia, and elected delegates to represent the Prov- 
ince of Massachusetts Bay therein. 

The Port Bill went into operation on the first day of 
^ June ; and in fourteen days after the people had feasted 
Gen. Gage in Faneuil Hall, and toasted the king, Boston 
WAS shut up. The king had placed his foot upon the 
town. Gage had his military arm at her throat. The 
town could scarcely either move or breathe. It was full 
of troops and tribulation. Every vessel that could be 
moved had been sent out of the harbor ; the wharves were 
empty ; the storehouses empty ; commerce was at an end. 
The trade of the town was crushed ; mechanics and labor- 
ers were thrown out of employment ; money almost ceased 
to circulate, and became scarce with all classes of people. 
Provisions were soon in demand, and greatly increased in 
price, so that none but the wealthy could purchase them. 
And this condition of things — hardest to bear in its first 
imposition — existed in Boston on the 17th of June, 1774, 
when it may almost be said that one of her patriots called 
a Continental Congress, which another of them had only 
three months before publicly recommended. 



DEFEAT OF THE TORIES. 



DEFEAT OF THE TORIES. 



The tories were exultant, and heaped abuse, denuncia- 
tion, and falsehood upon the people in newspapers, letters, 
and pamphlets, both here and in England. " Our ene- 
mies," said Sam Adams, " are already holding up to the -/ 
tradesmen their grim picture of misery, to induce them to 
jdeld to tyranny ; " bat they failed ignominiously. 

On the same 17th of June the Port- Act meeting was held 
in Faneuil Hall by adjournment (although such assemblages 
were prohibited to the people), while Adams and Han- 
cock were at Salem. It was an anxious day for Warren, 
who wrote to Adams on the loth, " I think your attend- 
ance can by no means be dispensed with." It was in this 
letter that Warren said to him, " the mistress we court is 
LIBERTY ; and it is better to die than not to obtain her. 
If the timidity of some, and the treachery of others, in this . 
town, does not ruin us, I think we shall be saved." 

The meeting was adjourned to the 27th, and then moved 
from Faneuil Hall to the Old South Church. Sam Adams 
was now in his place, notwithstanding which the persons 
to whom Warren referred were bold enough to propose a 
vote of censure upon the Committee of Correspondence, 
and its dissolution. Sam Adams left the chair, listened and 
spoke, and the next day (the meeting having adjourned 
to that time), the motion was rejected hy an overwhelming 
vote, and the committee instructed to " persevere with their 
usual activity and firmness ; " and, in addition to this, the 
people utterly refused " to pay for the tea." 

Admiral Graves arrived in July, and more troops ; and 
arrests were talked of, — by the tories, of course, — but the 
committee of correspondence, as instructed by the meeting, 
determined upon their sessions, " unless prevented by brute 
force." Without losing sight of their cause, at this time, 
the leaders gave their attention to the poor, and afforded 
them relief, through tlie instrumentality of a Donation 
Committee. Two more of the oppressive and obnoxious 
acts of Parliament reached Boston. 



8 CONDITION OF BOSTON. 

It may easily be perceived in the condition of things 
which we have so faintly described, what a state of excite- 
ment and anxiety the town was in ; the ordeal it was un- 
dergoing ; everything disrupted and broken ; losses on one 
hand, want on the other; distress everywhere, even 
among the soldiers ; gayety nowhere, not even in the Prov- 
ince House. There was suspicion and apprehension of the 
soldiers, whom nobod}^ would countenance. The people 
hated them : they were parading on the common or prowl- 
ing about the town, while their officers were prancing 
their horses in the suburbs. There was nothing agreeable : 
Gage was afraid to remain at Salem ; his mandamus coun- 
cillors had been compelled to resign or escape into Boston, 
under the protection of the troops ; to live on salt pro- 
visions or such sheep and cattle as the men-of-war's men 
could steal from the islands and shores of the harbor. 
Street brawls and quarrels with the soldiers, or among 
them, were of daily occurrence, and, in some parts of the 
town, there were pests and criminalities, too gross to name, 
and supposed to be inseparable from camp life in a popu- 
lous town. 

CONDITION AND POSITION OF BOSTON. 

While in this condition of distress, poverty, and suffer- 
ing, bearing the punishment which had been so often 
threatened upon her, the whole country/, which was feeding 
her people from their abundance and their charity, WAS 
LOOKING TO HER IMDOMITABLE PATRIOTS FOR COURAGE, 

COUNCIL, AND ACTION. She was the object of wrath on 
one hand, and of commiseration and charit}^ on the other ; 
and yet the country looked to her for determination, firm- 
ness, a.nd council. What she felt the country felt ; what 
she held the country approved ; what she suffered the 
country shared. Yet there she stood : hope in her heart, 
vitality in her blood, thought and resolution in her brain, 
having expended, as Franklin said, nineteen shillings in 
the pound rather than give up the right to spend the other 



POSITION OF BOSTON. » 

sliilling as she pleased. South Carolina, expressing the 
feeling and uttering the voice of the country, sent her 
word, accompanied with two hundred tierces of rice for 
her poor, '•'■ For GrocVs sake he firm and discreet at this time." 
And a month later (August, 1774), one of the small towns 
in Connecticut notified her that she " was held up as a 
spectacle to the whole tvorld," and that " all Cliristendom is 
longing to see the event of the American contest." Pres- 
cott, who was soon to risk his life at Bunker Hill, ex- 
pressing also as he did the voice and heart of the whole 
people, said to her, " We heartily sympathize with you, 
and are always ready to do all in our power for your sup- 
port, comfort, and relief, knowing that Providence has placed 
you lohere you must hear the first shock.'''' 

Such was the condition., however degrading or disagree- 
able ; and such was the POSITION, both HONORABLE AND 
GLORIOUS, of Boston, when the battle of Bunker Hill — 
the first and necessary movement for her relief — was 
forced upon tlie ill-oi'ganized but patriotic army at Cam- 
bridge, by tiie acts and purposes of Gen. Gage. The con- 
dition of things described presented sucli a scene, as 
Washington said of another picture, in which he was an 
actor, " is not to be found in the pages of history." This 
state of things — not, however, without action and prog- 
ress in the patriotic cause, by proceedings and events of 
the most thrilling character (the Provincial Congress and 
the conflict of the 19th of April among them) — had con- 
tinued for a long year. There were added wrongs, depri- 
vations, and embarrassments, enough to crush any other 
people less inured to the toils and hardships of life, all of 
which were bravely and firmly withstood. But all ovei 
the country the cause of Boston was " the common cause 
of America." " And it came to pass," as the " Book of 
American Chronicles " has it, " that the New Yorkites, the 
Philadelphites, the Marylandites, the Virginites, the Caro- 
linites, took pity on their brethren the Bostonites," and 
with their camels and asses and mules and oxen, sent sup- 
plies " by the hands of the Levites, and there was joy in 
the land." 



10 "NO BUSINESS BUT THAT OF WAR." 

The winter of 1774-5 passed, seriousl}' enoiicyh for sol- 
diers and people ; spring had returned again with wonder- 
ful softness and beauty ; Gage, who had seen nothing but 
embarrassment, and found the acts of parliament only 
paper, had said that nothing but force would maintain the 
authority of the king. He had made a feeble attempt at 
Salem ; and a more costly one at Concord. The country 
was united ; the attempts at reconciliation had utterly 
failed ; the " Congress of the United Colonies " was assem- 
bling for its second session ; the Provincial Congress of 
Massachusetts Bay had assumed powers of government ; 
the American Armj' was gathering at Cambridge ; Gage 
himself was apprehensive of an attack ; it was time some- 
thing was done for Boston, — towards whose condition the 
eyes of the whole country were directed, — and it was 
almost like an inspiration when John Hancock declared : 

" BOSTON MUST BE ENTERED ! " 

And the battle of Bunker Hill was the first step in that 
direction. 

" NO BUSINESS BUT THAT OF WAR." 

The Committee of Safety, on the 2d of May, in a letter 
to the Governor and Company of Connecticut, who had sent 
a committee " to hold a conference with Gen. Gage," state 
the case as it existed at that time : " We fear that our 
brethren in Connecticut are not yet convinced of the cruel 
designs of administration against America, nor thoroughly 
sensible of the miseries to which Gen. Gage's army have 
reduced this wretched colony. We have lost the town of 
Boston, and we greatly fear for the inhabitants of Boston, 
as we find the General is perpetually making new condi- 
tions and forming unreasonable pretensions for retarding 
their removal from that garrison. Our sea posts [ports] on 
the eastern coasts, are mostly deserted," &c. " iVo business 
but that of war is either done or thought of in this colony J'^ 



ALARAf IN NEW YORK. 11 

. . • Our relief must now arise fro7n driving Cren. Crage 
with his troops out of the country^ wliich, by tlie blessing 
of God, we are determined to acooynpUsh, or perish in the 
attempt^ Connecticut immediately joined with Massachu- 
setts in the capture of Ticonderoga, and rendered her very 
valuable assistance at Bunker Hill soon after. 

PROPOSED INTRENCHMENT ON BUNKER HILL. 

It was Gen. Putnam, from Connecticut, who proposed 
the intrenchment on Bunker Hill, and, at the meeting 
of the Council of War, in the very spirit of the Boston 
letter, said the object was to draw [drive ?] the enemy out 
of Boston. It was also said at this time, that the country 
was growing dissatisfied with the inactivity which pre- 
vailed at Cambridge. Rhode Island and Connecticut and 
New Hampshire had sent their troops to Cambridge for 
the support and relief of Boston, in her determination, 
notwithstanding her grievances and sufferings, to main- 
tain the cause of the country. That was what Prescott 
desired to do, and that is what Putnam and Stark and 
Reed and Greene and others came expressly to accom- 
plish. 

ALARM IN NEW YORK. 

The progress of the Revolution depended upon the 
result of the battle of Bunker Hill : the capture of the 
province by Gage (who had never governed it),- on one 
hand, or the capture of Boston, and driving his army out 
of it, on the other ; and the war, it may be said, did not 
begin until this last was accomplished nine months later by 
the array under Gen. Washington. So well understood was 
this, that some regiments of troops from Ireland, having 
been ordered to New York, — which so alarmed the people 
of that province that they sent to the Continental Con- 
gress to know what they should do when they arrived, — 
were immediately ordered to Boston, to_the great relief of 
the New Yorkers. 



/ 



12 PROVIDING FOR THE POOR. 

PROVIDING FOR THE POOR. 

So deeply oppressed were the people of Boston, at this 
time, that the Provincial Congress was called upon to 
adopt measures for their relief ; and thereupon passed the 
following resolve : — 

" In Provincial Congress, Watertown, 
May 1, 1775. 

" Whereas the inhabitants of the town of Boston have 
been detained by Gen. Gage, but at length, by agreement, 
are permitted to remove with their effects into the 
country, and as it has been represented to this Congress 
that about five thousand of said inhabitants are indigent 
and unable to be at the expense of removing themselves : 
Therefore, resolved, that it be recommended to all the good 
people of this colony, and especially to the selectmen that 
they aid and assist such poor inhabitants with teams, 
wagons," &c. ; and it was " further resolved that the inhabi- 
tants of Boston thus removed shall not be considered as 
the poor of said town into which they remove," &c., and 
provision was made for the expenses of removal and main- 
tenance. 

LOCATIONS OF THE POOR. 

Suffolk county had 215; Middlesex, 1016; Plymouth, 
115 ; Bristol, 588 ; Berkshire, 314 ; Hampshire, 788 ; 
Worcester, 539. Among the towns Wrentham (Suffolk) 
had 89 ; Worcester, 82 ; Springfield, 68 ; Concord, 66 ; 
Lincoln, 29 ; Bridgewater, 81, &c. 

Is it possible in view of this veritable history, to mag- 
nify the interest which the people of Boston, at the present 
day, may well feel in the first centennial of the Battle of 
Bunker Hill? 



PREPARING FOR THE CONTEST. 3 3 

III. PREPARING FOR THE CONTEST. 

PROCEEDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY. 

" In Committee of Safety, May 10, 1775. 
*' Voted, That the following letter be immediately sent 
to the respective colonels of the arni}^, viz : 

" Cambridge, May 10, 1775. 
" Sir : — As we are meditating a blow against our rest- 
less enemies, we therefore enjoin you, as you would evi- 
dence your regard to your country, forthwith, upon the 
receipt of this order, to repair to the town of Cambridge, 
with the men enlisted under your command. 

" We are," &c. 

REPORT OP JOINT COMMITTEE. 

" May 12, 1775. 

" The following is the report of a joint committee, ap- 
pointed by the Committee of Safety and the Council of 
War, for the purpose of reconnoitring the highlands of 
Cambridge and Charlestown. 

"We have carefully examined the lands, and their situ- 
ation, in regard to annoying and preventing the enemy 
from passing into the country from Boston, and are of 
opinion that the engineers be directed to cause a breast- 
work to be raised near the bridge, by the red house, at the 
head of the creek, near the road from Cambridge to 
Charlestown, on the south side of said road ; also abreast- 
work to be raised at the north side of the road, opposite 
the said red house, and to run in the same line as the fence 
now stands, upon the declivity of the hill there ; also a 
redoubt on the top of the hill where the guard house now 
stands ; and three or four nine pounders to be planted 
there ; also a strong redoubt to be raised on Bunker'' s Hill, 
with caymon planted there, to annoy the enemy coming out 
of Charlestown, also to annoy them going by water to 



14 FUirniEIi ACTION OF COMMITTEE. 

Meclfoid. When these are finished, we apprehend the 
country- will be safe from all sallies of the enemy in that 
quarter. All which is humbly submitted. 

BENJ. CHURCH, Jr., 

Chairman of the Suh- committee from the Oo^nmittee of Safety. 

WILLIAM HENSHAW, 

Chairman of the Suh-committee from the Council of War. 

" The Committee of Safety having taken the foregoing- 
report into consideration, apprehend the matter not to 
belong to them officially ; and although they are persuaded 
that the highlands above mentioned are important, yet not 
being the proper judges what works are necessary to be 
constructed to make said posts tenable, are of opinion that 
the determination of this matter rests with the Council of 

War. 

BENJ. CHURCH, Jr., Chairman.'' 

FURTHER ACTION OF THE COMMITTEE. 

It was learned at this time that Gen. Gage, having 
received his expected re-enforcements, ha'd arranged " to 
secure some advantageous posts near Boston : viz., Dor- 
chester and Charlestown." This intelligence came from 
Exeter, N. H., under date of June 13 ; but it is pretty 
evident that the Committee of Safety had information of 
their own, as on that da}^ they passed a vote, " whereas it 
is dail}^ expected that Gen. Gage will attack our army, now 
in the vicinity of Boston, " &c., it was resolved that the 
General make an immediate report of his equipment, &c. 

On the loth, the Provincial Congress passed votes for an 
increase of the army ; that the militia hold themselves in 
readiness to march at a moment's notice, and that the peo- 
ple go armed to church on Sundays. 



ACTION OF JOINT COMMITTEE. 15 

On the same day the Committee of Safety passed a 
resolve as follows : 

" Whereas it appears of importance to the safety of this 
colony, that possession of the hill called Bunker's Hill, in 
Charlestown, be securely kept and defended, and also some 
one hill or hills on Dorchester neck, be likewise secured, 
Therefore, resolved, unanimously, that it be recommended 
to the Council of War that the above named Bunker's Hill 
be maintained by a sufficient force being posted there," &c. 
Col. Palmer and Capt. White were appointed to join with 
the committee of the Council of War at the Roxbury camp, 
and to communicate to the council the above vote. 



JOINT MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY AND 
COUNCIL OF WAR. 

The joint committee met probal)ly at Roxbury on the 
afternoon of the 15th, and most likely approved the course 
recommended, as also did the council of war, probably on 
the 16th, as on that evening orders were issued in accord- 
ance with the vote of the Committee of Safet}'-, so far as 
Bunker Hill was concerned. It is agreed on all sides that 
the Committee of Safety " had secret intelligence from 
Boston by means of spies, that the British were about to 
take possession of Dorchester Heights ; " " and " (this 
statement is made on the word of Samuel Adams), " to 
divert them from their object, a close approach to the 
enemy was made by entrenching on Breed's Hill, which 
had the desired effect, until the provincials could take pos- 
session of Dorchester Heights." 

What we now know of Gage's intentions confirms the 
correctness of this statement, upon which no doubt the 
Council of War acted. Gen. Burgoyne, in his account of 
the battle, June 25, says, — 

'■'■It was absolutely necessary WQ should make ourselves 
masters of these heights, and we proposed to begin with 
Dorchester." " Every thing was accordingly disposed ; my 



16 ORDERS TO THE COMMANDERS. 

two colleagues and myself had with Gen. Gage formed the 
plan," and " it was to have been executed on the 18th." 

It now appears as if Gen. Gage became aware of the 
proceedings of the Provincial Congress, and of the Com- 
mittee of Safety, between the 13th and 15th of June, and 
planned his movements for the 18th, with a view to 
anticipate those of the array at Cambridge, which he was 
momentarily expecting would take place ; for it may well 
be believed that John Hancock's words had not been lost 
upon the Congress or its Committee, " Boston must be 
ENTERED." Tliis vicw accounts for the hustj movement 
of the 16th of June, for which it has been so often said the 
provincials were not prepared ; and also for the attempts 
made to keep the proceedings secret, which was not the 
case with those of 10th and 12th of May touching the same 
subject. 

ORDERS TO THE COMMANDERS. 

In view of these proceedings, on Friday, 16th of June, 
orders were issued b}^ Gen. Artemas Ward (Gen. Jede- 
diah Preble, who had been elected to the chief command, 
never having presented himself in camp, probably on 
account of the state of his health), "for placing three 
Massachusetts regiments (Col. Prescott's, Col. Frj^e's, and 
Col. Bridge's), and a detachment of a hundred and twenty 
men from a Connecticut regiment (under the command of 
Capt. Knowlton, a brave officer), about a thousand in all, 
under the command of Col. Prescott, directing him to pro- 
ceed to Bunker's Hill, and there erect a fortification." 
This statement is taken from what is known as the " Pres- 
cott Manuscript ; " and it is a noticeable fact, that this 
remarkable paper, prepared and preserved in the Prescott 
family, until published by Caleb Butler in his " History of 
Groton " (nor yet Col. Prescott's letter to John Adams, 
soon after the battle, each of them giving an account 
of the engagement), does not contain the name of Col. 
Putnam — an omission hardly to be expected in these 
papers, or in any respectable account of the battle. It 



DISPOSITION OF THE ARMY. 17 

then mentions the prayer by Pres, Langdon ; then that 
Col. Prescott led them silentl}^ down to Charlestown Neck, 
where he called around him the field officers, with Col. 
Gridley, and communicated to them his orders. 

AMOUNT OF THE FORCE. 

Prescott states the number of men at a thousand, while 
it is said the force detailed should have reached about 
fourteen hundred ; but it is probably true that no such 
number was present on the night of the 16th. Some 
writers put the number as high as twelve hundred, but 
this is very doubtful, as are some other statements con- 
cerning it. All agree that the original order was for a 
detachment of a thousand men, to which is to be added 
the re-enforcement which came from Medford in the after- 
noon. 

DISPOSITION OF THE ARMY. 

The arm}^ at this time had its headquarters at Cam- 
bridge, and the troops of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 
Connecticut, and New Hampshire, in all about seven thou- 
sand, were located at various points, from Jamaica Plains, 
Roxbury, and Lechmere's Point on the right, to Medford, 
Charlestown Common, and Chelsea on the left, and some 
small progress had been made in erecting fortifications on 
the line, preparatory to an attack upon Gage in Boston, 
and to prevent any movement on his part into the country. 
The troops surrounded Boston, and it is manifest that the 
ships of war were kept in the harbor for the protection of 
the army in the town, or to receive it in case of necessity^ 
— a condition of things referred to by Gen. Howe in 
addressing the troops at Bunker Hill, in the words, " we 
have no recourse, if we lose Boston, but to go on board our 
ships." 3 



18 THE MOVEMENT. — THE REDOUBT. 

IV. THE MOVEMENT. 

PRAYEE. 

When the detachment liad assembled at Cambridge, 
prayer was offered by Pres. Langdon of Harvard College, 
and soon after nine o'clock moved to Charlestown, where 
the wagons were met with the intrenching tools, — all that 
could be got together. Here Putnam met the detach- 
ment ; and the orders were explained to his officers — and 
perceived by the men — by Col. Prescott. 

SELECTION OF BREED'S HILL. 

On reaching Bunker Hill, where, according to orders, the 
intrenchment was to be made, a discussion ensued, in 
which Putnam took part, and Breed's Hill was determined 
on. The Prescott manuscript asserts that " the whole 
height was popularly called Bunker's Hill, although the 
southern part was known as Breed's Hill by the neighbors." 

There has been much discussion concerning this decision. 
The Committee of Safety say it " was a mistake," and 
this again is said to be a delicate way of overlooking a dis- 
obedience of orders. Prescott may be right, but we had 
alwa3's supposed that the distinction between the two hills 
was well known, one being much nearer to Boston than the 
other, — and therefore to be preferred, — while Bunker's 
Hill was much the highest. There does not appear to be 
any possible way of deciding whether there was a mistake 
or whether the Council of War overruled the decision of 
the Committee of Safety. 

THE REDOUBT. 

As soon as the matter above spoken of was decided, the 
body moved towards Breed's Hill, and on reaching the 



THE RAIL FENCE. 19 

spot in the quietest manner possible, tlie arms were stacked 
almost without a loud word spoken, and the intrenching 
tools taken in hand with a will. The " Redoubt," so 
called, which has been displayed in such artistic form on 
the British map of Lieut. Page of the Royal Engineers, 
was eight rods square, with some angular formations for 
entrance, &c., on the southerly side, which was nearly 
parallel with the street. From this there was an embank- 
ment of about four hundred feet in length, extending down 
the slope towards Mystic river, called a Breastwork. 

The works, such as they were, rude and hastily thrown 
up, were no doubt well planned, and all that could be 
done in four hours' time ; the work, however, was con- 
tinued during the morning, notwithstanding the firing from 
the ships which did little damage. The redoubt being on 
the summit of the hill, it was like firing over a precipice : 
the shot that fell short plunged into the ground (and in 
one case ceitainly into the graveyard, damaging the tomb- 
stones), while those aimed higher passed over it. 

After the British obtained possession of the hill, their 
engineers planned a fortification of some magnitude and 
form (which is probably that delineated on Page's map), 
so that no vestige, as some have supposed, of the original 
work planned by Gridley long remained. It was also deter- 
mined at the same time to erect defences on Bunker Hill, 
where a part of the intrenching tools were carried, and 
there, under orders from Gen. Putnam, works were partly 
built, but they were not of much account. 

The monument on Breed's Hill, it is generally under- 
stood, occupies very nearly the centre of Col. Gridley's 
redoubt. 

THE RAIL FENCE. 

The rail fence was in a general way an extension of 
the Breastwork towards the shore of Mystic river ; and 
was designed to prevent the enemy from out-flanking the 
provincial forces. Col. Prescott, it is claimed, from his 
own indefinite statements, ordered the artillerv with their 



20 ORDER TO THE RAIL FENCE. 

field-pieces, and Capt. Knowlton with the Connecticut 
troops, to this portion of the field ; but the work was not 
completed, rude as it was, until after Gen. Stark with the 
New Hampshire troops arrived. It was composed chiefly 
of parts of two rail fences, placed together, and hay filled 
in between them ; while that portion nearest the river was 
composed of rocks and stones from the beach. 

The movement in this direction, and the construction of 
the rail fence, were very important among the events of 
the day, and had a great effect upon its results. The 
position was splendidly maintained by Knowlton and Stark 
and the troops under their command. The arrangements of 
Gen. Howe show very clearly and very early an intention 
of moving in this direction, and thus surrounding the 
redoubt, whvph it was important, above all things, to pre- 
vent ; and it is enough to say here, it was prevented. 



THE ORDEK TO THE RAIL FENCE. 

There is some conflict of statement and a wider differ- 
ence of opinion as to who gave the orders for this impor- 
tant movement. It is asserted that Col. Prescott, who 
was in the redoubt, and saw the necessity for the measure, 
which had not been contemplated, ordered Knowlton to 
this point, and this is stated in the accounts. So, also, 
it may be that Putnam, who certainly was in command 
on the field, or assumed to command, ordered some of 
the troops in the same direction. He was unquestionably 
in position to see the necessity for the movement, which 
might even then have been on foot, and would not hesitate in 
such a case to give an order in the same direction. So, 
also, on the supposition that Prescott did not discover the 
purpose of the British commander and Putnam did, in this 
case beyond a doubt, Putnam being in the rear of the 
redoubt, may have simply anticipated the order of Col. 
Prescott. 

The evidence, we think, is decidedly in favor of Put- 
nam's action in the matter ; but we do not understand that 



COMMENCEMENT OF THE WORK. 21 

it takes any thing from the just claims of Prescott to tlie 
command in the redoubt, or the ability and bravery with 
Avhich he discharged its heavy duties. 

Notwithstanding all tliis, Gen. Dearborn, after describ- 
ing the manner of making the rail fence out of two fences 
and the hay, says very emphatically, " This was done by 
direction of the Committee of Safety [one or two mem- 
bers who were present], of which William Winthrop of 
Cambridge was one, and he has within a few years [this 
was in 1818] informed me." 

There is no doubt, Avhatever, that CoFs. Reed and Stark, 
when the>' arrived with their regiments in the afternoon, 
went directly to the rail fence, — the necessity for which 
was apparent to the military eye of Col. Stark, — and it is 
certain that they either did this of their own accord or 
received an order from Putnam. They certainly did terri- 
ble work there. 

COMMENCEMENT OF THE DAY'S WORK. 

The opening of the morning had clearly given a new 
turn to things, and no* in a physical sense only was light 
thrown upon the subject. The night's work was unfin- 
ished ; nothing was complete ; every thing rude and 
imperfect, — ammunition, arms and intrenchment. The 
" Lively" began to cannonade the crowd of laborers when 
they looked like 

" a mist upon the hill, 



For such it seemed, muffled in silence still," 

which Admiral Graves, or his officer, proposed to brusli 
away with his heavy guns. The Battery on Copp's Hill 
followed the lead of the ships, and " The British Annual 
Register " says, " Such a great and incessant roar of 
artillery would have been a trial to the firmest of old 
soldiers, and must have greatly impeded the completion of 
the works ; it is, however, said that they bore this fire with 
wonderful firmness, and seemed to go on with their busi- 
ness as if no enemy had been near, nor danger in the 
service." 



22 CONTEMPLATING THE SCENE. 

Prescott and his small command had not come here to 
fight the British Army and the Royal Navy, or so much of 
each as were in the vicinity. His orders were to build a 
strong redoubt on Bunker's Hill, and to hold it until re- 
lieved ; but it soon became manifest that here at Breed's 
Hill there was fighting to be done. It might have been 
the same — probably would have been — had the other 
hill been chosen. 

CONTEMPLATING THE SCENE. 

The movement was far more serious than Prescott 
had anticipated ; possibly more " rash " than Warren had 
thought ; possibly ev6n greater than Putnam had fore- 
seen ; and it is marvellous that the redoubt, as Gage, and 
Howe, and Burgoyne — Avho had boasted that he would 
find "elbow-room" among the rebels — expected, was not 
at once abandoned. Let the reader conceive, for one mo- 
ment, the position of this small force : a handful of men, 
close together, on the summit of the hill, without shelter ; 
six of the best ships of war in the world around them ; a 
land battery in front of them ; floating batteries, more or 
less in number, in rear of them ; with two hundred guns — 
more than a gun to a man in the redoubt at a later mo- 
ment — opened upon them with every sort of ammuiution 
known in naval warfare ! No wonder Prescott thought 
that men sent awa}^ with the intrenching tools would not 
return ! No wonder that Gage, when looking upon the 
scene, asked Willard if they would fight ! It seems now 
as if none but those whom Governor Bernard had de- 
scribed as men " mad enough to lay down their lives for 
liberty " would fight ; and, we repeat, when the scene is 
pictui'ed on the mind in this light, it is marvellous that 
they did not abandon the redoubt, at least as far as Put- 
nam would permit them to go, — the top of Bunker Hill, 
— where certainly the}^ would have had a better chance 
for their lives, although it would seem only a chance there ! 

It has been said that there were deserters. The state- 



RE-ENFORCEMENTS REQUIRED. 23 

ment needs; no proof. A brave man may make himself a 
martyr ; but if the party had all left the redoubt, as they 
did afterwards, it would have been a retreat. That they 
remained there almost intact, is an evidence of courage 
never to be questioned. 

WORK ENDED — WHAT PRESCOTT THOUGHT. 

By eleven o'clock, the provincials had done all they 
could do, and laid aside their tools. The guard, or patrol, 
Avhich had been sent during the night around the shore of 
the town, followed on two occasions by Prescott himself, 
had seen the ships and heard the cry of the sentries, and 
had long been recalled. One of his men (Asa Pollard of 
Billerica) had been killed, having heedlessly exposed him- 
self ; but Prescott believed, according to Gov. Brooks's 
statement, that the British troops would not attack them ; 
and if they did, he thought the}'' would be defeated ; and 
probably never would have gained the summit of the hill 
if the ammunition in the redoubt had held out a little 
longer. Prescott, knowing the advantages of the situation, 
excepting the naval force against him, believed that he 
could not be driven from the redoubt ; and it would seem 
that Gage himself had some doubts on this subject, and 
perhaps Howe, who warned his men against being com- 
pelled to fly to their ships of war for shelter. 

KE-ENFORCEMENTS REQUIRED. 

Prescott and Putnam, it is believed, sent to Gen. Ward 
for more troops, just as Howe sent to Gage for the same 
purpose, and Putnam himself went to Cambridge to urge 
the sending of them. Ward is said to have hesitated, 
fearing an attack upon Cambridge, and called upon the 
Committee of Safety for advice. There was not, however, 
much room -or much time for hesitation ; the troops must 
either be sent, or those sent ordered back, and the Com- 
mittee of Safety (if consulted in the matter) must have 



21 • THE BOSTON SIDE OF THE RIVER. 

seen this ; and a re-enforcement was ordered, — not, how- 
ever, from the camp at Cambridge, but from . the New 
Hampshire encampment at Medford. 

The order reached Medford at eleven o'clock. The 
men were provided with powder, balls, and flints, and 
started for the scene of action, and did good service at the 
rail fence, where they met the famous Welsh Fusileers, 
and an English account says ruined them. They were, in 
fact, cut to pieces, one captain and a few privates only 
escaping the bullets of the New Hampshire farmers. 



v. — THE BOSTON SIDE OF THE RIVER. 

THE ALARM IN BOSTON. 

" The sight of the works was the first notice that 
alarmed the ' Lively ' man-of-war early in the morning, and 
her guns called the town, camp and fleet, to behold a 
sight which seemed little less than a prodigy." It does 
not appear that the bells were rung, as at Cambridge 
wlien the British landed, but the town was awakened with 
the roar of artillery. To be sure, the town was half- 
depopulated, but such as were within it were aroused by 
the alarm, not knowing what had happened or what 
was going to happen. It is not at all improbable that 
there had been a party, a dance, or possibly a council of 
war concerning the proceedings intended for the next 
morning, at the Province House. The state of the 
times was such, that any thing, no one knew what, might 
happen at any moment ; the events of the spring indicated 
that the summer would not be likely to pass peaceably, 
especially after the arrival of the re-enforcements. 

It was with Gen. Gage and his ofiicers, as with the 
people and everybody within hearing of the cannon, — all 
were ignorant of the real state of things. Whatever had 
happened it came upon them like an earthquake ; the 
houses of the people shook and the town trembled as 
they rose from their beds and rushed into the stieets so 



COUNCIL OF WAR. 25 

earl-y in the morning. It was no doubt believed by some 
that the rebels (there was not now much objection to that 
word) had attacked the town. Admiral Graves was on 
shore, and, it is said, sent and stopped the firing of the 
ships, probably not knowing the cause of it until later in 
the morning. Tiie news came soon enough, and the 
Province House was alive with excitement, and it is 
doubtful if even the sentries heard the sunrise gun from 
Beacon Hill. 

COUNCIL OF WAR. 

Without reference to Gen. Gage's order-book, or any 
knowledge of the amount of red tape necessar3% we have 
reason to know that a hasty breakfast was followed by 
a council of war. Things moved slowly, though hurriedly. 
Although Gage and his officers had determined, if pos- 
sible, to drive the rebels from the vicinity of Dorchester 
Heights, they did not seem to be prepared for the work 
before them, to which they were so suddenly called. They 
had been shut up in the town for a long time, if not 
in luxurious living, mostly in idleness and pleasure, with 
only the small experience of the excursion to Concord and 
back to enliven and encourage them. 

The officers were some time in reaching the Province 
House, and the session must have lasted two or three 
hours, judging from the movements which followed. 
Besides, there was much difference of opinion in the 
council, the question being whether the redoubt (or what- 
ever they chose to call it) should be directly attacked 
by marching up the hill, protected by the fire of the naval 
force and batteries, or whether an attempt should be made 
to surround the place ; that is, cut off the peninsula at the 
neck, intercept re-enforcements, march towards the redoubt, 
and, perhaps, drive the rebels into the sea! It is stated, 
of course on British authority, that a majority of the 
council were in favor of this last scheme ; but among 
those who voted in its favor, neither Smith, nor Pitcairn, 
nor Percy, who were in the experiences of the 19th of 

3 



26 MOVEMENT OF THE TROOPS. 

April, are named. Gage did not approve tlie plan, and 
it is an evidence of Lis military acumen, for the reason 
that it would place the king's troops between two armies, 
one entrenched and possessing the heights, Avhich would 
command him, and the other in force. He, however, de- 
clared that the works " must be carried," and by an attack 
in front, however undesirable. 

Gen. Gage's course in tliis matter has been severely 
criticised, notwithstanding which it seems to us that his 
decision was correct. 

MOVEMENT OF THE TEOOPS — EMBARKATION. 

Orders were at once issued for the parade of the troops, 
and hot as the day was, the accounts at least supplied 
them with blankets ; and at about twelve o'clock, ten 
selected companies and two regiments, — thirty -fifth and 
forty-ninth, — marched from the Common to Long Wharf, 
and were thence transported, troops, cannon, ammunition, 
provisions, &c., — in barges to Moulton's Point (near the 
Charlestown end of Chelsea Bridge), and there landed 
without opposition, although they came with pointed field- 
pieces prepared to meet it. Other regiments and compa- 
nies were ordered to the North Battery and Copp's Hill, 
in readiness to embark if required. 

These movements, of course, created great excitement 
in Boston. Men and officers, on foot or mounted, were 
rushing from the Province House to the Common ; from 
the Common to the wharf, and from the wharf to the Bat- 
tery, where Gen. Gage took up his position to overlook 
and inspect the conflict, while the people, mostly soldiers 
and tories, repaired to the top of Beacon Hill, to witness 
the sceue, whatever it might prove to be. Burgoyne, who 
was also at Copp's Hill, says, " Behind us, the church 
steeples and heights of our camp [meaning Boston] were 
covered with spectators, and the rest of our army who 
were unengaged. The hills round the country were 
covered with spectators. The enemy all in anxious sus- 
pense." 



SPEECH OF GEN. HOWE. 27 

APPEARANCE OF THE TROOPS. 

The troops were composed of light infantry, grenadiers, 
rangers and artillery, under command of Maj. Gen. Howe 
and Brig.-Gen. Pigot, and are said to have made a splendid 
show in their red uniforms, with guns, bayonets, swords 
and field-pieces flashing the sunshine. They landed at one 
o'clock, and under rigid and perfect discipline, formed in 
military order ; and, judging from what has been said, must 
have been surprised that the rnde farmers, who were look- 
ing at them, did not run away. 

RECONNOITRING AND REFRESHMENTS. 

The accounts go on to say that Howe made a pause ; 
reconnoitred (with his glass) the position ; found it 
much stronger than he expected ; saw more men. coming 
over the farther hill ; advised with Gen. Pigot ; and at 
once sent for more troops. All this while the men were 
refreshing themselves, and many of them taking, as they 
little supposed in view of such an enemy, their last meal. 
Rum, it is said, was supplied by the bucketful, and it must 
have seemed to the half-famished men in the redoubt, who 
had just partaken of their provisions, many of them also 
for the last time, that the king's troops were enjoying 
themselves. 

RE-ENFORCEMENTS — SPEECH OF GEN. HOWE. 

Re-enforcements, consisting of light infantry, grena- 
diers, forty-seventh regiment, and the first battalion of 
marines, arrived before Howe moved a man ; and then he 
addressed the troops. He expressed his happiness in com- 
manding so fine a body of men ; telling them that the en • 
emy must be driven from the entrenchments at all events ; 
saying that he would not desire them to go farther than he 
went, and telling them that, " if we lose Boston," we have 
no recourse but to go on board our ships, " which will be 
very disagreeable to us all." 



28 THE ENGAGEMENT. 

Howe unquestionably gave Pigot what he supposed to 
be the place of danger ; but nevertheless conducted him- 
self with great bravery during the action ; had his oflScers 
slaughtered around him ; lead his troops fearlessly on, and, 
according to reliable English authority, Avas left three times 
alone in front of his flying men. How he could ever make 
up his mind to compliment and praise them in general or- 
ders afterwards, is what we cannot wholly understand, 
excepting that* there alwfiys is '•'• policy in war." 

Vr. — THE ENGAGEMENT. 

REPULSE AT THE REDOUBT. 

The redoubt was all that, with the time and means at 
hand, the men could make it. The same may be said of 
the rail fence, a sort of " rustic bulwark." Theie was 
what was called a breastwoik at the upper end of it, and 
an improvised stone wall not much higher than the knees 
at the other. Prescott and Warren were in the redoubt ; 
Putnam and Knowlton and Reed, and Stark were near by, 
if they had not reached the line of the fence ; and Howe 
was now prepared for the attack, with his already famous 
officers to lead on his Avell-disciplined men, fresh for the 
conflict. The disposition of the troops, we have been told 
.by high authority, was perfect ; and when they moved, 
Gage and Clinton and Burgoyne (who were looking on 
from Copp's Hill), and Howe and Pigot, — all expected a 
short conflict and an easy victory. Every thing that has 
come to our hands shows that this was their expectation. 

A battery had been established on the hill at Moulton's 
Point, near where the troops landed, and under the sharp 
and rapid fire of field pieces and howitzers, Gen. Pigot 
moved towards the redoubt, not directly in front, which 
was the line of the cannonading, but to the left ; while 
Howe, with the right wing, attacked the line between the 
breastwork and the river. The moment was one of intense 
interest — the first real meeting, with all the paraphernalia 



ATTACK UPON THE RAIL FENCE. 29 

of war, between the king's troops and the king's subjects, 
witnessed by thousands of people, most of whom, it is sup- 
posed, had a personal interest in the result. 

Before he moved, he took the precaution to send out 
flank guards, and at this moment " the fire of the three 
shi^JS, three batteries, several field pieces, the battery on 
Copp's Hill, — altogether from six different directions, — 
centered on the intrenchments." In the midst of this 
fearful firing, which is described by Burgoyne and many 
others who witnessed and heard it, as truly terrible, 
Pigot's men opened upon the redoubt at a considerable 
distance from the works, and Prescott's men, after a small 
scattering fire, which rather enticed them on, waited for 
their approach, according to orders to reserve their fire 
until the enemy were within thirty or forty paces. The 
men nobly stood their ground, regaidless of the clamor and 
the flying Jballs from the ships and batteries, and opened 
at the proper moment a tremendous volley, in which it 
would seem almost every shot told upon the enemy. The 
slaughter was fearful, and the whole line fell back. The 
officers exerted themselves to rally their men, after re- 
moving the dead and wounded,- and advanced to a sec- 
ond attack ; and again, besides the destructive fire from 
the redoubt, they had a galling fire on the flank from 
a small body of provincials outside the redoubt. The 
effect was destructive and fearful as before — it was 
astounding, and Pigot was compelled, not so much to 
order, as to witness, a retreat. They did not fall back, as 
said, in " some disorder," but in utter confusion. The 
British accounts of this retreat confirm every thing the 
Americans have ever said of it. Gage, Clinton and. Bur- 
goyne felt it, while they turned their glasses from Pigot to 
Howe, who was struggling towards the rail fence. 

ATTACK UPON THE KAIL FENCE. 

Howe led his men forward, but some portion of the 
" thousand impediments," said to have been in Pigot's 



30 SECOND ATTACK AND REPULSE. 

way, were encountered b}^ him. He had expected to 
carry tlie "rustic breastwork " with ease, but he found his 
greatest difficulty in reaching it, even witli the " men of 
, Miiiden," the flower of the British army ; and getting into 
the rear of the redoubt, which he thought certain, was not 
likely to be accomplished. His artiller}^, upon which he 
relied for efficient service, were rendered almost useless b}'' 
the nature of the ground, while Callender's artillery, placed 
by Putnam, and once at least pointed by him, did excellent 
work for a while. A few shot from the line, fired without 
orders, just as at the redoubt, had the effect to draw that 
of the enemy, which they continued, while that from the 
line was checked until they came within the prescribed 
distance. Owing, perhaps, to the position of Howe's men, 
their miscalculation of distance, having to fire at heads only, 
or their random method of fire, their shot passed over the 
provincials, and consequently did little execution ; while 
Knowlton, Stark and Reed's men took deliberate aim, and 
rarely failed of their object. The carnage was terrific ; 
the troops became disconcerted ; the column broke ; the 
famous regiments of the army, including the " Welsh 
Fusileers," retreated ! Here again the English accounts of 
the carnage outrun the American. One of these states 
that as soon as our light infantry were " served up against 
the grass fence," they lost " three-fourths, and many nine- 
tenths of their men ;" and another, speaking of the defence 
says, " it was found to be the strongest post that was ever 
occupied by any set of men." 

SECOND ATTACK AND REPULSE. 

Gen. Howe, just as Pigot had done, rallied his men for a 
second assault, the troops stepping over the dead bodies as 
though they had been logs of wood, — according to a tory 
newspaper, — and they received the fire as before. The 
men had to be urged on over the dead bodies of their 
companions at the point of the ba3'onet. All the British 
authorities agree in the statement, that it required the 



BRITISH ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE. 31 

utmost efforts of the officers to rally the men. Burgoyne, 
who Avas looking on (probably with Gage) from Copp's 
Hill, says, ^'-Howe's left was staggered ;''"' and Rivington's 
tory newspaper says, " They once ran and filled some of 
their boats, the fire was so hot." The artillery had been 
able to do more than on the first assault ; but in the end 
his whole force, much to the disappointment and chagrin 
of Gen. Howe, was compelled to retreat a second time. 

THE THIRD RALLY. 

The third rally, it seems, was too much for the provin- 
cials ; the efforts of the enemy were redoubled ; the men 
in the redoubt were no doubt fagged out by the extraordi- 
nary labor which they had performed, and their ammu- 
nition was expended ; Pigot's force was directed to the 
weak spot between the breastwork and the rail fence 
(where Callender's artillery had been), and with their 
bayonets broke through the line, so that they could reach 
the redoubt. " Can it be wondered," the Committee of 
Safety say, " that the word was given by the commander 
of the i^artg to retreat ? " 

ONE CONCLUSION REACHED. 

This — omitting many interesting particulars and inci- 
dents of the engagement, more or less familiar — was 
the result of the first regular fight between the king's 
troops and the provincial militia. One British officer — 
and most likely he Stpoke for all of them — wrote home 
from Boston, '' the Americans are not those poltroons I 
myself was once taught to believe them to be." 

BRITISH ACCOUNT OP THE BATTLE. 

One of the best, briefest, and most comprehensive ac- 
counts of the battle of Bunker Hill, characterized 'with 
much candor and truthfulness, was published in " The 
British Annual Register," for 1775 (supposed to have 
been written by Edmund Burke), and in some respects 



32 BRITISH ACCOUNT OF THE BATTLE. 

is more reliable than any other British account. We 
extract some portions of it : — 

" The attack was begun bj'" a most severe fire of cannon 
and howitzers, under which the troops advanced very 
slowly towards the enemy, and halted several times to 
afford an opportunity to the artillery to ruin the works, 
and to throw the provincials into confusion. Whatever it 
proceeded from, whether from the number, situation, or 
countenance of the enemy, or from all together, the king's 
forces seem to have been unusually staggered in this attach. 
. . . The provincials stood this severe and continued fire 
of small arms and artillery with a resolution and perse- 
verance which would not have done discredit to old troops. 
They did not return a shot until the king's forces had 
approached almost to the works, when a most dreadful 
fire took place, by which a number of our bravest men and 
officers fell. Some gentlemen who had served in the most 
distinguished actions of the late war declared, that, for the 
time it lasted, it was the hottest engagement they ever 
knew. It is, then, no wonder, if, under so heavy and 
destructive a fire, our troops were thrown into some disor- 
der." [This statement, after the strong expressions al- 
ready used, is certainly very mild, especially when we 
read what follows.] " It is said that Gen. Howe was, 
for a few seconds, left nearly alone; and it is certain that 
most of the officers near his person [who were picked out 
by the sharpshooters] were either killed or wounded." 

The several repulses in this account are not specially 
recorded, and it goes on to say that the troops " attacked 
the works with fixed bayonets, and forced them in every 
quarter," admitting, at the same time, that the provincials 
were mostly -without bayonets, and out of ammunition. 
.The provincials then retreated across the neck, exposed to 
the guns of the men-of-war and batteries, but suffered 
" little loss from this formidable artillery." Brief as this 
account is, there is hardly to be found any other which is 
fairer, more candid, or gives more credit to the yeomanry ; 
and it is wholly free of the sneers and scoffings and con- 



ACCOUNT OF THE PROVINCIAL CONGRESS. 33 

temptuous expressions wliicli characterize most of tlie Brit- 
ish accounts of the provincials, and were even bandied 
about in parliament on many occasions. 

" Thus ended," continues the Register, " the hot and 
bloody affair of Bunker Hill, in which we had more men 
and officers killed and wounded, in proportion to the num- 
ber engaged, than in any other action which we can recol- 
lect. The whole loss in killed and wounded amounted to 
1,054, of whom 226 were killed: of these 19 were commis- 
sioned officers, 2 majors, and 7 captains. Seventy other 
officers were wounded." " The event sufficiently showed 
the bravery of the king's troops." ..." The battle of 
Quebec, in the late war, with all its glory, and the vast- 
ness of the consequences of which it was productive, was 
not so destructive to our officers as this affair of an in- 
trenchnient cast up in a few hours." " They said," con- 
tinues the writer, without attempting to dispute or doubt 
the conclusions which he repeats, " that though they had 
lost a host, they had almost all the effects of the most 
complete victory, as they entirely put a stop to the offen- 
sive operations of a large army sent to subdue them, and 
which they continued to blockade in a narrow town. 
They now exulted that their actions had thoroughly refuted 
those aspersions which had been thrown upon them in 
England, of a deficiency in spirit and resolution." 

These objects were certainly attained, and, as the sequel 
clearly shew, were maintained to the evacuation of the 
town, and to the end of the war. The publication of 
this account, in so prominent a work as " The British 
Annual Register " for 1775, a few months at most after 
the battle, must have been highly beneficial to the Amer- 
ican cause. It silenced the scoffers, proved the impotency 
of parliamentary acts, and ended the undignified talk of 
Lord Nortli, about "punishing" the Bostonians. 

ACCOUNT OF THE PEOVINCIAL CONGKESS. 

The following brief account of the battle was prepared 
by order of the Provincial Congress, signed by James 



34 ACCOUNT OF THE PROVINCIAL CONGRESS. 

Warren as President, and Saml. Freeman as Secretary, 
and was transmitted, nnder date of June 20, to the Conti- 
nental Congress at Philadelphia. We omit the opening 
and closing portions of the document as having little rela- 
tion to the battle or events coiniected with it. 

" We think it our indispensable duty to inform you 
1hat re-enforcements from Ireland, both of horse and foot, 
being arrived (the numbers unknown), and having good 
intelligence that Gen. Gage was about to take possession 
of the advantageous posts in Charlestown and on Dor- 
chester Point, the Committee of Safety advised that our 
troops should prepossess them if possible. 

" Accordingly, on Friday evening, the IGth instant, this 
was effected by about twelve hundred men. About day- 
light on Saturday morning their line of eircumvallation, on 
a small hill south of Bunker's Hill in Charlestown, was 
closed. At this time the ' Lively ' man-of-war, began to 
fire upon them. A number of our enemy's ships, tenders, 
cutters, scows, or floating batteries soon came up, from all 
which the fire was general by twelve o'clock. About two 
the enemy began to land at a point which leads out 
towards Noddle's Island, and immediately marched up to 
our intrenchments, from which they were twice repulsed ; 
but in the third attack forced them. Our forces which 
were in the lines, and those sent for their support, were 
greatly annoyed on everj^ side by balls and bombs from 
Copp's Hill, the ships, scows, &c. At this time the build- 
ings in Charlestown appeared in flames in ahnost every 
quarter, kindled by hot balls, and is since laid in ashes. 
Though tliis scene was almost horrible and altogether new 
to most of our men, 3'et many stood and received wounds 
by swords and bayonets before they quitted their lines. At 
five o'clock the enemy were in full possession of all the 
posts within the isthmus. 

" In the evening and night following, Gen. Ward ex- 
tended his intrenchments before made at the stone-house, 
over Winter Hill. About six o'clock P.M. of the same day, 
the enemy began to cannonade Roxbury from Boston Neck 



POSSIBLY PROVIDENTIAL. 35 

and elsewhere, wliicli they continued twenty-four hours, 
with little s^jirit and less effect. 

" Tlie nnniber of killed and missing on our side is not 
known, but supposed to be about sixty or seventy, and by 
some considerably above that number. Our most worthy 
friend and President, Doctor Warren, lately elected a 
major-general, is among them." 

" This loss we feel most sensibly. Lieutenant Colonel 
Parker and Major Moore of this Colony, and a Major 
McClary from New Hampshire, are also dead. Three 
Colonels and perhaps one hundred men are wounded. 
Tiie loss of the enemy is doubtless great. By an anony- 
mous letter from Boston we are told that they exult much 
in havii^gf O'^iined the oround. thoug-h their killed and 
wounded are owned about one thousand ; but this account 
exceeds every other estimation. The number they had 
engaged is supposed to be between three and four thousand. 
If any error was committed on our side, it was in taking a 
post so much exposed." 

POSSIBLY PROVIDENTIAL. 

It appears from this account that the Provincial Con- 
gress was not satisfied, even in view of the result, that no 
error had been committed. We have never seen the 
remark made in reference to this matter, but we have 
heard it said about other things much less conspicuous 
thiin this, that there was something providential in it. It 
certainly happened that on each side a Council of War was 
called and consulted^ and on neither side were its suggestions 
adopted and adhered to, which we presume must be con- 
sidered as somewhat unusual. Of course it is idle to 
speculate upon such a point ; but it certainly appears to 
us that if Gage had followed the advice of his officers, his 
troops must have been cut to pieces or captured; and, on 
the other hand, if Prescott had made his fort on Bunker's 
Hill, the fight would have been more stubborn, the Brit- 
ish troops further from their ships and support, and the 
result must have been in some respects very different. As 
it was it may be considered providential. 



33 ACCOUNT OF THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY. 

ACCOUNT OF THE COMMITTEE OF SAFETY. 

The account of tlie battle, prepared by the Committee of 
Safety, which has been often published, is more complete 
and full than the above, and is dated 25th July. It says 
the fortifications were ordered on Bunker's Hill, but "by 
some mistake " Breed's Hill was taken. It speaks of the 
smoke from the burning town as designed to " cover their 
attack upon our lines, and perhaps Avith a design to rout 
or destroy one or two regime7its of Provincials ivho had been 
posted in that town.'' '■'■ If either of these wns then- design, 
they were disappointed," for the wind changed " and the 
Regiments were already removed.^' [It is possible these 
remarks may refer to Capt. Walker's Company of fifty 
men on the right of Gen. Pigot, who were removed after 
the first repulse and while the town was burning,] 

The account then goes on to describe the first attack, 
when the enemy " retreated in disorder and with great 
precipitation to the place of landing, and some of them 
sought refuge even in their boats." " Here the officers 
were observed ... to push their men forward with their 
swords." They were finally rallied, and the Americans 
" a second time put the regulars to flight, who ran in great 
confusion towards their boats." With renewed exertions, 
and having brought some cannon to bear so as to rake the 
breastwork, the provincials retreated Avithin tlie little fort. 
The regulars now made a decisive effort ; the fire from 
ships and batteries was redoubled ; the officers were seen 
to goad forward their men, and " they attacked the re- 
doubt on three sides at once." 

This whole account so far, it will be seen, relates 
exclusively to the engagement between Gen. Pigot and 
Prescott at the redoubt, and does not even allude to the 
repeated repulse of Howe's right flank at the rail fence. 

" The retreat of this little handful of brave men [about 
150 in the redoubt, and, perhaps, 200 at the breastwork] 
would have been effectually cut off, J,ad it not hap2:>ened 
that the flanking party of the enemy, which was to have 



PRIVATE REPORTS OF THE BATTLE. 37 

come up on the back of the redoubt, was checked hy a party 
of provincials [probably not less than five hundred], who 
fought with tlie utmost bravery, and kept them from 
advancing beyond the beach." " The engagement of these 
two parties [distinct from that- at the redoubt^ was kept up 
with the utmost vigor." " All their efforts [and it is said 
they ' fought with the utmost bravery '] were insufficient 
to compel the Provincials [Putnam, Reed, Stark, and Knowl- 
ton] to retreat., till thi main body hid left the hill.'" 

There was, indeed, hard fighting along the line of the 
rail fence, as all reliable, and as we tliink honest accounts 
of the day's work admit and describe, and here it was that 
" the laurels of Minden were totally blasted,'^ all the Cap- 
tains except one, and nearly all the men (some accounts 
sa}', excepting six,) were killed or wounded. 

In concluding this account the Committee suggest that 
this unnatural war be stopped, and the ministers give up 
their " unreasonable ideas of their right to tax and officer 
the Colonies." 

Pt<lVATE REPORTS OF TflE BATTLE. 

An officer on board one of the king's sliips at Boston, 
under date of June 23, writes to his friend in London, 
and gives some interesting particulars concerning the 
battle on the British side ; he says, — 

" We were immediately ordered to land some battalions, 
and in the mean time our great guns were fired against 
those who appeared to be busily em[)lo}ed at the battery. 
Whether our shot did not reach faV enough to create any 
confusion among them, or it was owing to their resolution, 
I cannot say ; but certain it is, that the moment they dis- 
covered the landing of our troops, the^^ formed in order of 
battle, and so far from retreating, as tve expected., they 
maiched towards us with the utmost coolness and regu- 
larity. Nothing can exceed the panic and apparent dislike 
of most of the king's troops to enter into this engagement ; 
even at tlie landing several attempted to run away, and 
five actually took to their heels in order to join the Amer- 



38 THE DEAD ON THE FIELD. 

icans, but were presently brought back, and two of them 
were immediately hung up in terrorem to the rest. [?] 
They, for the most part, express a dislike to the service in 
which the\- are engaged, and nothing but the fear of mili- 
tary punishment prevents their daily deserting." . . . 

" The Provincials poured down like a torrent, and 
fought like men who had no care for their persons ; the}" 
disputed every inch of ground, and their numbers were 
far superior to ours." [This last statement, of course, is a 
mistake ; the proportion of the Provincials to the British 
troo[)s and those in the batteries and on board the ships 
and floating batteries, was not one to two, and if confined 
to the troops alone, as a contemporary writer says, "two to 
three."] The same writer continues, "The engagement 
lasted upwards of four hours, and ended infinitely to our 
disadvantage. The flower of our array are killed or 
Avouuded." 

A Boston merchant, under date of June 24, wrote to his 
brother in Scotland an account of the battle, as he saw it. 
In speaking of the burning of the town, he says — "Sure I 
am, nothing ever has or can be more dreadfully terrible 
than what was to be seen and heard at this time ! the most 
incessant discharge of guns that ever was heard with mor- 
tal ears continued for thiee quarters of an hour, and the 
troops forced their trenches and the rebels fled. All this 
was seen from this town, 

" But oh ! the melanchol}^ sight of killed and wounded 
that was seen on that day ! In four hours after their land- 
ing not less than 500 wounded were re-landed here, and 
140 left dead on the field, amongst whom was a large 
proportion of brave officers." 

" Early next morning I went over to the field of battle 
before an}' of the dead were buried, which was the first 
thing of the sort that I ever saw. I pra}' God I maj' never 
liave the opportunity of seeing the like again." 

Tliis writer mentions the foolish story that the rebel 
bullets were poisoned, so fatal was their mission. 

Extracts from a letter of S. Paiue, a tory who escaped 



COLONEL PRESCOTT'S ACCOUNT. 39 

from Worcester into Boston, and left his father in jail ; 
" The King's Troops have gained, tho' at Great Loss, a sur- 
prising victor}' over tlie Rebels, last Saturday- An awful 
scene, of which I was an Eye Witness." "All tlie Grena- 
diers and light Infantry of the whole Army reinforced to 
about 3000 under the conduct of the gallant Lord Howe," 
&c. " I was on Beacon Llill in full prospect." " The 
Rebels lost a vast many, among whom was Doctor Warren, 
a noted rascal, & Willard Moore of Paxton, a Lt. Col." 
" After the firing ceased I went over, and Good God, what 
a Sight, all the Horrors of War, Death & Rebellion." 
Paine fled to England, but returned and died 1833. 

COL. prescott's account. 

On the 25th of August, 1775, Col. Prescott, in a letter 
to John Adams, in Congress at Philadelphia, gives his 
" account of the action at Charlestown." He says, before 
sunrise the enemy began a heavy cannonading while, his 
men were at work. " In the interim the engineer forsook 
me." He soon found it necessary to draw a line about 
twenty rods from the fort, northerly, and adds, '■'■ About this 
time the above field officers, being indisposed, coidd render me 
but little service, and most of the men under their command 
deserted the party.'" The officers mentioned are Bridge, 
Bricket, and Knowlton, and they and their men were cer- 
tainly in the fight as their losses show. When the enemy 
began to land " I ordered a train with two field pieces to 
go and oppose them, and the Connecticut forces to support 
them ; but the train marched a different course, and I 
believe those sent to the support followed, I suppose, to 
Bunker's HilL" 

Under this statement it is claimed that Col. Prescott 
ordered Capt. Knowlton to the rail fence ; while his own 
statement is that " there was a party of Hampshire, in 
conjunction with some other forces, lined a fence at a 
distance of three score rods back of the fort, partly to the 
north." The meanincy of Col. Prescott's statement, how- 



40 GENERAL GAGE'S ACCOUNT. 

ever, is very clear. He supposed they went to Bunker's 
Hill. — no (lonl)t with good reason, as he could see the 
whole distance from where he stood, — and here, we pre- 
sume, they were met by Gen. Putnam, who brought them 
back to the rail fence. 

Col. Prescott says, " the enemy began to march to the 
attack in three columns," and then adds, " I commanded 
my Lieut. -Col. Robinson and Major Woods, each Avith a 
detachment, to Hank the enemy, who, I have reason to 
think, behaved with prudence and courage. I was now 
left with perhaps one hundred and fifty men in the fort." 

We are not informed where Robinson and Woods went, 
or what service they rendered. There are certainly some 
things here not easily to be understood or explained. They 
militate with conclusions which have been already reached 
by different writers. We do not interpret them. 

GEN. gage's account OF THE BATTLE, 

Gen. Gage's account of the battle, Avritten many days 
after it occurred, was severely criticised in England, and 
particularly the following passages: '' The king's troops," 
he said, " were under every disadvantage ; " " this action 
has shown the superiority of the king's troops ; " the loss 
" the rebels sustained must have been considerable ; " 
" they carried off great numbers during the action ; " they 
" buried them in holes ; " and other equally absurd remarks. 
Some of the criticisms were attributed to Edmund Burke ; 
perhaps the following came from his pen : — 

" One or both of the following conclusions must be 
drawn from this narration. Tiie Americans are either the 
cleverest fellows in the world at making strong lines in 
three or four hours, or the most desperate enemy in 
defending them ; for by Mr. Gage's account they killed 
and wounded near half of his army in marching up about 
three hundred 3-ards under a complete train of artillery 
and all the fire of the navy to cover them, which by this 
account is a new instance of successful defence from one 



CASUALTIES OF THE FIELD. 41 

night's labor. By this rule tlie Americans will put our 
whole army into the grave or hospital in three or four 
night's work, and one hour's fire each morning." 

BRITISH RETURNS (GAGe'S ACCOUNT). 

Force, estimated, 2500 to 3000 

Killed, 226 

Wounded, 828 

Total, 1054 

Officers killed and wounded, 134 

Drummers, 13 

There are other accounts, but the general results do not 
differ much from those given. 

Naval force, about 1,000 men, 168 guns. Casualties, 
one officer, Lieut. Jordan, wounded. 

PROVINCIAL RETURNS. 

Force, not exceeding 1200 

Killed and missing, 115 

Prisoners, 30 

Wounded, 304 

449 

Less Prisoners, 30 



Total killed and wounded, 419 

Another account says 135 killed, 250 wounded, and 30 
missing : total 415. Other accounts do not vary materially 
from these. 

VIIL — BURNING OF CHARLESTOWN. 

The burning of Charlestown was one of the incidents 
of the battle ; not perhaps as directly so as the death of 
Abercrombie, Pitcairn or Warren ; but still it was a con- 
sequence, in this case no doubt made so designedly. It 
had been threatened by the general or somebody else in 
his name ; but this was thought to be only a threat, and 
doubtless accomplished its purpose. There is no doubt 
that it was very much exposed ; and at times seemed to 
be in Gen. Gage's way. Used as Paul Revere used it, it 



42 BURNING OF CHARLESTOWN. 

shortened the distance to Concord ; the Committee of 
Safety had met there several times, and it was the resi- 
dence of the Commissary of the American army, and a 
member of the Provincial Congress. These, however, 
were not suflBcient reasons for its destruction, and, so far 
as we know, only one other is given ; and that rests almost 
wholly, we believe, on the direct statement of Gen. Bur- 
goyne, in a letter dated at Boston, 25th of June. He 
says, — 

FIRE FROM COPP'S HILL. 

" Howe's disposition was exceedingly soldier-like ; in 
my opinion it was perfect. As his first arm advanced up 
the hill, they met with a thousand impediments from strong 
fences [?] and were much exposed. They were also ex- 
ceedingly hurt hy musketry from Charlestown ; though 
Clinton and I did not perceive it till Howe sent us word 
b}^ a boat, and desired us to set fire to the town ; which 
was immediately done. We threw a parcel of shells, and 
the whole was instantly in flames." 

The phrase " musketry from Cliarlestoivn^'' has been un- 
derstood by some writers to xwQAu^ firing from the houses; 
but it is well known that there were no houses in the town 
from which firing upon the troops was a practicable thing ; 
and a writer, remarking upon Burgoyne's letter at a later 
period, says, " I now appeal to his Lordship's candor, 
whether it was possible that his troops could have been an- 
noyed by the Americans from any of the houses in Charles- 
town, provided these houses had been full of them ? " The 
truth is, the people had nearly all left the town before the 
engagement commenced in the afternoon ; and the annoy- 
ance spoken of was probably from the small command of 
Capt. Walker, of Chelmsford, who had taken a position in 
order to fire upon the enemy's left flank, where the}'^ did 
good work. Their captain was afterwards struck, taken 
prisoner, and died in Boston jail. 

SET ON FIRE BY TORCHES. 

Another writer says, '' the British troops, to their eter- 
nal disgrace, shame and barbarity, set Charlestown on fire 



THE SCENE OF THE FLAMES. 43 

with torches." A letter dated Cambridge, June 22, says, 
" it is supposed the enemy intended to attack us under 
cover of the smoke from the burning houses, the wind 
favoring them in such a design." Quackenbos, in his 
school history, says, " they were rallied for a second charge 
under cover of a smoke produced by t'he burning of sev- 
eral hundred wooden houses in Charlestown, which the 
British had wantonly set on fire." And another writer 
says the burning houses " sent up dense volumes of smoke, 
which completely enveloped the belligerents." 

THE SCENE OF THE FLAMES. 

A writer who thinks the burning was ordered by Gen. 
Gage (who was at Oopp's hill) says, " to the dark and 
awful atmosphere of smoke, enveloping the whole penin- 
sula, and illumined in every quarter by the streams of 
fire from the various instruments of death, — the con- 
flagration of six hundred buildings added a gloomy and 
amazing grandeur. . In the midst of this moving lake of 
flame, the lofty steeple, converted into a blazing pyramid, 
towered and trembled over the vast pyre and finished the 
scene of desolation." 

A letter from Salem, quoted by several writers, says, 
" Terrible indeed was that scene, even at our distance. 
The western horizon in the day-time was one huge body 
of smoke, and in the evening a continued blaze ; and the 
perpetual sound of cannon, and volleys of niusketr}^, 
worked up our imaginations to a high degree of fright." 
"Straight before us" [Gage, Clinton and himself], Bur- 
goyne says, " a large and noble town in a great blaze ! 
The church steeples, being of timber, were great pyra- 
mids of fire above the rest. . . . The crush of churches, 
ships upon the stocks, and whole streets falling together in 
ruins, to fill the ear ! The storm of redoubts, with the 
objects above described, to fill the eye^ and the reflection, 
that perhaps a defeat was a final loss of the British empire 
in America, to fill the mind, made the whole a picture and 
a complication of horror and importance beyond any thing 
that ever came to my lot to be witness to." 



44 THE FATE OF CHARLESTOWN. 

It would appear, from the deposition of William Coch- 
ran, who was at Copp's Hill during the engagement, that 
there is ground for these different statements. He says, 
" orders came down [from Gage] to set fire to the town." 
The old houses, just above the ferry way, the meeting- 
house and several other houses were set on fire by car- 
casses, as he testifies, and " the houses at the eastern end 
of the town were set on fire by men landed out of boats." 
This statement was sworn to before James Otis, Au- 
gust 16. 

" The fate of Charlestown," says the British An- 
nual Register, before quoted, " was also a matter of mel- 
ancholy contemplation to the serious and unprejudiced of 
all parties. It was the first settlement made in the colony, 
and was considered as the mother of Boston, that town 
owing its birth and nurture to emigrants from the former. 
Charlestown was large, handsome, and well-built, both in 
respect to its public and private edifices ; it contained 
about four hundred houses, and had the greatest trade of 
an}^ port in the province, except Boston. It is said that 
the two ports cleared out a thousand vessels annually for 
a foreign trade, exclusive of an infinite number of coast- 
ers. It is now buried in its ruins. Such is the termina- 
tion of human labor, industry, and wisdom ; and such are 
the fatal fruits of civil dissensions." 

Such, rather, are the results of war ! The same 
writer says, — and considering the strong threats made by 
Gen. Gage against the town alread}^ referred to, we are 
inclined to agree with him, — " whether [the town was 
set on fire] by carcasses from the ships, or by the troops, 
is uncertain." It contained about three hundred dwelUng- 
houses, and a hundred and fifty or two hundred other build- 
ings, and the loss of property was estimated at nearly one 
hundred and tiventy thousand pounds sterling^ or about six 
hundred thousand dollars ! The furniture, plate and library 
of Dr. Mather were consumed in the fire ; and it is prob- 
able that a considerable amount of valuable property was 
in the town, which had been brought out of Boston. The 



PRESENCE OF WARREN. 45 

burning of Charlestown has always been condemned ; but 
it was the same in spirit as burning the houses between 
Lexington and Boston. 

IX. — PRESENCE OF WARREN. 

Gen. Warren arrived on the ground at about two o'clock. 
He had been up most of the night at Watertown, as Presi- 
dent of the Provincial Congress, and reached Cambridge 
at about five o'clock in the morning. He complained 
of feeling nnwell, and laid down upon the bed ; but the 
roar of the cannon was in his ears, and roused him to 

I effort and action. He soon rose, and feeling better, 
mounted his horse, and started for the scene of the con- 
flict. He had just been elected (June 14), second Major- 
General by tlie Provincial Congress, but had not received 
his commission (which, of course, was never issued). On 
reaching the hill, no doubt with incidents and interviews 
all the way there, he met Gen. Putnam, who, supposing 
he had come to assume command, offered to receive his 
orders. Warren declined, with the remark, " I am here 
only as a volunteer." On going towards the redoubt, 
where he was received with cheers, he was met by Col. 
Prescott, who also offered him the command. Judge Pres- 
cott, a son of the colonel, says Warren replied, " I shall 
take no command here. I have not yet received my com- 
mission. I came as a volunteer, with my musket, to serve 
under you, and shall be happy to learn from a soldier of 
3^our experience." Notwithstanding all this, evidence is 
furnished to the effect that Warren gave orders, and some 

H writers assert that he was commander-in-chief. Accord- 
- ing to Prescott, he said he came with his musket, while 
another account says that he borrowed a musket and car- 
touch-box of a sergeant who was retiring ; both of which, 
we think, are hypothetical, as Prescott says the last he 
saw of Warren, he " stepped long with his sword up," and 
another account speaks of him as having a sword in his 
hand. Chester, on the contrary, says, " Warren fought 
bravely with his musket until the retreat." In Sumner's 



46 DEATH OF WARREN. 

pamphlet it is said " when Warren left Dr. Townsend (his 
student), he had a cane only." Of course he might have 
had during the da}^ a cane, a sword, and a musket, just as 
he might have walked half way to Charlestown Neck, and 
rode on horseback the rest of the way. 

A writer, under the signature of J. S. L., in the Sumner 
pamphlet, says : — 

" Gen. Warren presided in the Provincial Congress that 
morning, and was decorated very much. He wore a light 
cloth coat, with covered buttons worked in silver, and his 
liair was curled up at the side of liis head, and pinned up. 
He was verj'' cheerful and heartily engaged in preparation 
for the battle, which was just commencing, and the mus- 
kets must have been firing when he arrived." 

DEATH OF WAKREN. 

The time and manner of the death of Dr. Warren 
are variously stated. It seems to have been generally 
admitted that he was one of the last to leave the redoubt, 
when the British troops Avere about to enter. He is 
reported to have been wounded in the arm or side, and as 
bleeding. Gen. Dearborn says, " In the course of the 
action ... I walked on to the higher ground in the rear 
of the redoubt, with an expectation of procuring some 
[ammunition] from some of the wounded or dead men who 
la}^ there." "• I saw at some distance a dead man lying 
near a small locust tree. As he appeared to be much 
better dressed than our men generally were, I asked a 
man who was passing me if he knew who it was. He 
replied, if is Doctor Warren.'''' But perhaps the most relia- 
ble account of the death of Warren is, that a British officer 
in the rear of the redoubt recognized him, snatched a mus- 
ket from one of the troops and shot him in the back of 
his head in a most dastardly and cowardl}'^ manner. 

Amos Foster of Tewksbury, in a letter of Aug. 3, 1825, 
says he was in Bridge's regiment in the works all night, 
knew Dr. Warren, saw his clothes bloody, and heard him 
cry out (and has told the story a thousand times since), 



REMARKS O.V TTIE BATTLE. 47 

" I am a dead man ; fight on, m\ brave fellows, for the 
salvation of your country." So far as we know, this state- 
ment rests on Mr. Foster's testimony alone. 

" He gazed upon the flag, then raised his hand, 
As if to bless the symbol of the land ; 
This done — it gently on his bosom fell — 
He smiled like infant sleep, and bade the world farewell." 

X. — REMARKS ON THE BATTLE. 

The battle of Bunker Hill has been made the subject of 
a great deal of comment, — adverse, eulogistic, critical, 
argumentative, and oratorical. It was in some respects, 
as it was the first, one of the most notable battles of the 
revolutionary war. Hastily got up, — which was perhaps 
its most dangerous feature, — it was a trial of capacity and 
skill on one side, courage and energy on the other. It 
was the first meeting, of the parties strictly as enemies, 
with all the disadvantages, except that of position, on the 
weaker side. Such as we have described were its purpose, 
conduct, and character. That it is open to criticism there 
can be no doubt ; and it is probably so with every battle 
ever fought. There were surprises on each side, and the 
appearance of things which followed the first movements of 
the enemy was not foreseen. Pi-escott did not believe he 
would be attacked excepting at long shot. The work of 
the rail fence was not contemplated either at Cambridge or 
Charlestown, until the probable or actual movements of 
Gen. Howe shew a necessity for means to prevent the 
outflanking of the breastwork and surrounding of the 
redoubt. Jts construction, therefore, was not even an 
after tliought, but something that was seen to be necessary 
on the field ; and tlie evidence is very strong that it was 
suggested by a member of the Committee of Safety, who 
was present. Prescott does not say that he ordered it, or 
gave an}^ order in relation to it, or at it, or sent any to 
those who defended it, by much the largest part of the 
detachment placed under his command. If, tlierefore, it 
could be proved that he was the commander of the field 



48 TWO DISTINCT ENGAGEMENTS. 

and the day, we submit that it would be proving too much 
for his reputation as a soldier. 

TWO DISTINCT ENGAGEMENTS. 

The battle of Bunker Hill was, in fact, omitting the 
naval portion of it, which was altogether on one side, 
TWO ENGAGEMENTS, distinct to a degree from each other 
if not separate. General Pigot against Col. Prescott and 
the redoubt, where he alone commanded ; and Gen. Howe 
against the rail fence and Gen. Putnam, where he alone, 
as far as we can see, commanded ; and, as between Pres- 
cott and Putnam, it does not appear that either assumed 
to give orders to the other, on the field or during the 
fight, or in fact that either of them received orders from 
Gen. Ward or an3'body else. This was a condition of 
things not contemplated by Gen. Ward, or as we con- 
ceive, by anybody else, until the. necessity created it. 
Meeting this necessity, as it was met by Putnam, Stark, 
Reed, and Knowlton, saved the men in the redoubt, if not 
the day. 

The divisions of each armv seem to have been quite 
distinct, if not separate, and the contest was clearly in two 
parts on each side, with the naval force as a third element. 
The movement on the part of the British forces, after the 
questionable address of Gen. Howe, was not even simul- 
taneous : Pigot commenced his attack upon the redoubt 
without reference to Gen. Howe, and their proceedings 
were in large measure independent of each other, as 
were those of Prescott and Putnam. Prescott's " manu- 
script " says, " The British were repulsed with great loss 
from the redoubt and fro7n the fence. '^ "The British offi- 
cers," it says, " were obliged to make great exertions to 
bring up their men a third time. They however, succeeded, 
and made a third attack, with great spirit, on the redoubt 
and at the fence, keeping them distinct in each statement. 
The same authority states that the redoubt was entered on 
the southeast side, " between the breastwork and the rail 
fence," which last held the other section of the opposing 



EFFECT OF THE BATTLE. 49 

army almost at arm's length until the retreat from the 
redoubt was effected. Major Stark, then a young man, 
in the battle with his father, a fair and honest witness, 
says, " the soldiers at the fence were loath to leave their 
ground, as they could not see that the redoubt w^as in 
possession of the enemy." The account of the Committee 
of Safety says, the engagement at the fence was kept up 
with the utmost vigor. All the enemy's efforts to compel 
the provincials to retreat were unavailing " till their main 
body had left the hill. Perceiving this ivas done^ they 
then gave ground," and retired with regularity. It was 
the carrying of the redoubt, where there had been hard 
fighting, which compelled the soldiers at the fence, who 
had literally slaughtered their enemies, to fall slowly back. 

EFFECT OF THE BATTLE ON EVACUATION. 

The effect of the battle of Bunker Hill upon the evacu- 
ation of Boston is seen in these facts : On the 26th of June, 
Gage wrote to the ministry that the trials they had had 
showed that the rebels were not the despicable rabble too 
many had supposed them to be ; and that the conquest 
of the country could only be effected by strong armies 
attacking it in various quarters and dividing its forces-. 
He felt it to be his duty to communicate these views to 
the government, but did not dare at this time to recom- 
mend the evacuation of Boston, which he did do two 
months later. The new instructions which had been pre- 
pared for him were withheld when the news of the battle 
reached England, and the result was his recall, " in order 
to give His Majesty exact information of every thing." 

In fact, the whole thing was changed. It was now war 
and nothing else ; it had been nothing else since the 19th 
of April ; and now, if not then, they had demonstrated 
the truth of the story that Gov. Bernard, in 1768, reported 
to the ministry as the strangest thing he had ever heard ; 
namely, that some of the people of Massachusetts were 
mad enough to declare " that they were ready to die for 
liberty." The talk about cowards and poltroons was 



50 THE QUESTION OF COMMANDER. 

ended ; as also were the denunciations of parliament that 
" Boston ought to be the principal object of our attention 
for punishment ; " " That Boston ought to be knocked 
about the ears," &c. Lord North's solemn statement, — 
which was in fact a declaration of war, — " Nothing fur- 
ther of a conciliatory nature was intended, and when the 
Colonies came to unconditional submission [something Bos- 
ton never thought of ] ! Parliament ivoulcl consider ivhat 
was jit to he done.'" And this was soon after found to be 
the Evacuation of Boston. 

THE QUESTION OF COMMANDER. 

After what has been said, perhaps, it is unnecessary to 
express opinions on the specific question of commander. 
It is assumed that this question has been finall}^ settled ; 
and it is now very boldly asserted — the statement rest- 
ing on a basis of assertions and opinions — that "it is cer- 
tain, and a7id now beyond all question., that he [Prescott] 
had the command of the day and the action.'''' 

This statement ignores all the fact and argument on the 
other side, which have never been satisfactorily answered ; 
and, we think, is distinctly untrue. Col. Prescott un- 
questionably commanded in the redoubt ; or, as Mr. Froth- 
ingham states it, " was left in uncontrolled possession of 
HIS POST ; " and adds, " nor is there anj^ proof that he 
gave aw order at the rail fence or on Bunker Hill.'^ 

It is palpable, then, that somebody else did, entirely in- 
dependent of him ; and, as he gave orders independently 
of any other commander in the redoubt, our suggestion of 
two engagements seems at least plausible, and may pos- 
sibly be the means of doing justice to all the prominent 
patriots in the field. 

We understand the statements quoted to be irrecon- 
cilable, and to contradict each the other ; and if the last is 
true, the first is simply absurd. Tiie whole of Col. Pres- 
cott's detachment, excepting one hundred and fifty men, 
Avere at the places named ; were not sent tliere by him, 
and he reports them as having " deserted the party." 



BOSTON AND CHARLESTOWN. 51 

They were clearly not under his command, nor did he ex- 
ercise any command over them. He appears to have 
obej^ed his orders to construct and defend, the redoubt 
implicitly, and he certainly did so " with such coolness, 
bravery, and discretion as to wiu the unbounded applause 
of his contemporaries ; " but we are unable to see that he 
had any thing whatever to do with the rest of the field. 

As the matter now stands, if the conclusions reached 
by the friends of Prescott and Putnam are logically de- 
duced from the evidence presented and considered, the 
suggestion which we have made appeal's to be demon- 
strated, namely, that there were two engagements. 

XI. — BOSTON AND CHARLESTOWN. 

OLD MAP or BOSTON. 

The old map of Boston and Charlestown, which we 
reproduce, is very interesting to the present generation, 
as showing the peculiar features of these two places at the 
time of the battle of Bunker Hill, and the relation of each 
to that event. The encampment of the British army will 
be seen in the rows of tents on Boston Common ; but 
besides these they had barracks of considerable extent 
which the troops had mainly occupied during the winter of 
1774-5, on Beacon Hill, Copp's Hill, and Fort Hill, all of 
which are indicated on the map. Copp's Hill was in a 
situation to be able, b}^ means of its battery, to fire U[)on 
Charlestown ; and proljably shot from this quarter reached 
the intrench ment of Col. Prescott, especially as Gen. Bur- 
goyne, who was on Copp's Hill, mentions the fact that 
shot from the intrenchment reached that hill. He says, 
" except two cannon balls, which Avent an hundred yards 
over our heads, we were not in any part of the enemy's 
fire." If all the shot went " an hundred yards over " his 
head, he miglit well consider himself and " Tom " (whose 
absence from the scene he lamented) as out of danger; 
but possibly if the provincials had had any powder to 
.spare, his equanimity miglit have been disturbed by some 



52 CBARLESTOWN IN THE BATTLE. 

of the shot falling short of that very considerahle height 
— three himdred feet ! Copp's Hill was a very pronunent 
feature in the events of the day, as was Beacon Hill, and 
in fact all the hills around Boston and Charlestown, from 
which the battle or the flames could be seen. They were 
crowded with anxious and interested spectators. Gage's 
fortifications are seen at the Neck, towards Roxbury. 

CHAKLESTOWN IN THE BATTLE. 

On the map of Charlestown, the delineation of the re- 
doubt and rail fence, the location of the British and Amer- 
ican forces, are all quite distinct, however rude and unfin- 
ished the work may appear. They are made to occupy 
altogether more than one-half the width of the peninsula, 
and the troops in masses appear rather ponderous, consid- 
ering their actual numbers. The boats also, which brought 
the troops across the river, are to be seen on the right of 
the map nearly as large as the men-of-war which lie near 
the old North Battery. The artist represents a line of 
troops dragging along one of the cannon which has just 
been landed at Moulton's Point, now part of the navy 
yard, and this shows that the time of the drawing was 
early in the afternoon, as at a later period the gallant 
young lieutenant must have represented a very different 
state of things ; and among these, perhaps, a crowd of 
frightened soldiers running for the boats ; or, if earlier, 
that still more disagreeable picture, the execution of two 
soldiers charged with desertion — neither of them very 
pleasant pictures to contemplate. 

On the opposite side of the town, near what is called 
(we should say for the first time on this map) " School 
Hill," men are seen running from the flames. School Hill, 
according to its apparent location, was a small knoll on 
the old burying ground, not far from the present state 
prison, and once called " Burial Hill," but never much of 
a hill at any time. 

Town Hill, or Meeting-house Hill, around which the 
settlement was made, the public square, the ferry landing 



BOSTON AFTER THE BATTLE. 53 

opposite Copp's Hill, and the streets of the town, are all en- 
veloped or " wiped out " by the brilliant show of " Charles- 
town in flames." Only that portion of the main street 
leading over the Neck, and the road over Bunker Hill 
proper, leading to the field of conflict, are seen on the 
map, and they are the same now. 

The present bridge to Chelsea, opened to public travel 
in 1803, starts from near the north-easterly end of the 
navy yard, not far beyond the point at which the British 
regulars landed, called Moulton's Point, now included in 
the navy yard ; while the hill, a little distance inside of 
it, was dug away soon after Chelsea street was opened 
through it. The re-enforcements landed farther up Charles 
River, near to the present Charles River bridge, iii order 
to flank the redoubt on the left, but they finally joined 
Pigot and forced the breastwork and redoubt. The houses 
still appearing on this strange map were mostly burned, 
except a few of them towards the Neck. 

XH. — BOSTON AFTER THE BATTLE. 

When Washington reached the camp at Cambridge, a 
little more than two weeks after the battle, he found the 
same sentiment prevailing that Hancock had given utter- 
ance to two months previously, "^'he universal voice," 
says a contemporary writer, towards the British army in 
Boston, " is, starve them out, drive them from the town, 
and let his majesty's ships be their only place of refuge ; " 
and Washington persisted in this policy by refusing to 
allow his troops to leave camp for the protection of any of 
the ex23osed points upon the sea-coast. 

WHAT THE TWO COMMANDERS THOUGHT. 

At a later period Congress wrote to Washington on this 
subject ; and it was at this time that the inquiry was made 
whether Boston was to be considered. Hancock met this 
question when he said, ^'- Our friends are valuable^ hut our 
country must be saved.'''' It is singular, and may not have 



54 GEN. HOWE AND THE EVACUATION. 

been noticed, what a concurrence of opinion there was 
between the two commanding officers at this time. Both 
had been preparing by organizing their troops and extend- 
ing their defences for what was sure to follow. Gage was 
blamed for not following up his so-called A'ictory at Bunker 
Hill, aiul Washington, who was a long time without 
ammunition, was complained of by those who did not 
know his situation and the difficulties he had to encounter, 
for his inactivity ; and the following was the result which 
each arrived at, — 

Oct. 5, Washington Avrote that it was impossible to 
force their lines " without slaughter on our side, or cow- 
ardice on theirs." And on, — 

Oct. 9, Gage wrote, " on account of the intrenched 
position the rebels had taken," he recommended ■ the 
evacuation of Boston. 

GEN HOWE AND THE EVACUATION. 

The next day, Oct. 10, Gage yielded the command 
(there was no longer any Governor, so called,) to Gen. 
Howe, and he at once promulgated " three proclamations." 
Howe remained in the town until March ; and tlien, in 
order to save the town, Washington allowed him to leave 
unmolested; and it is said he left about a hundred pieces 
of cannon, a number of small vessels, great quantities 
of military stores and provisions. The king, who had 
treated his lo3'al subjects so oppressively, and was deter- 
mined to punish them into obedience, approved the meas- 
ure, and Howe was complimented for the step he so 
"prudently took of withdrawing from the town of Bos- 
ton." What a comment upon what king, ministers, and 
parliament had said concerning Boston ! One of Howe's 
critics asks, " Why were the army and the lo3-alists obliged 
to combat war, pestilence, and famine through the winter 
at Boston, only to be hurried from it in the spring?" 
Simply because Gage's advice was not followed in Oc- 
tober. Boston was in a condition to recuperate herself; 
but Charlestown was in ruins. 



APPROXIMATE DIVISION OF TIME. 55 

APPROXIMATE DIVISION OF TIME AT THE BATTLE 
OF BUNKER HILL. 

June 16, 1775. 

9 o'clock, P.M. Troops leave Cambridge. 

10, 11. March to Charlestown neck; consultation; arrive on the hill; stack 
arms; distribution of intrenching tools; work of Col. Grid ley. 

12. Work commenced on Breed's Hill. 

June 17, 1775. 

I, 2, .3, A.M. Work progressing; visits to the river shore; all quiet on board 

ships and in Boston ; guard called in. 

4. Movements perceived on board the " Lively " man-of-war ; firing of her 

guns, followed by Copp's Hill Battery and other ships. 

5, 6. Alarm in Boston ; excitement among the people; running of messengers 

and soldiers. 

7, 8. Orders sent out for council of war. 

9. Council of war at the Province House; work still progressing on the hill. 

10. Movements among4he troops about the Common. 

II. Orders issued for troops, arms, ammunition, cannon, supplies, &c. ; orders 

for boats, barges, &c., from the shipping and wharves ; work on 
the redoubt ended. 

12. March of troops te Long wharf; embarkation of cannon, munitions, arms, 
supplies, &c. ; officers' boats. 

1, 2, P.M. Landing at Moulton's Point, and forming on shore; landing can- 
non, munitions, provisions, &c. ; re- enforcements sent for by Gen. 
Howe ; work on the rail fence; re-enforcements landed. 

3. Movement of Howe and Pigot towards the redoubt, breastwoi'k, and rail 

fence. 

4. First and second attack and repulse ; third attack. 

5. Breastwork carried ; redoubt entered ; I'etreat, followed by I'etreat at rail 

fence. 

6. British troops, with some show of parade, take possession of the hill, and 

follow on to Bunker Hill ; retreat of the Provincials continued. 

7. 8. Crossing the neck, under fire of the batteries, over the road to Cam- 

bridge and Medford ; intrenchments on Winter Hill by Putnam, 
and also on Prospect Hill. 

9. At the end of twenty-four hours, the detachment, save the killed and 
wounded, who were mostly left on the field, returneil to Cam- 
bridge. In this time, of the two combatants, 341 persons had been 
killed, and 1,132 wounded. 



56 



END OF THE FIGHTING. 



END OF THE FIGHTING. 

The following is taken from an account of the engagement obtained from 
Capt. Elijah Hide, of Lebanon, Conn., who was a spectator on Winter Hill 
during the whole battle : — 

" We sustained our principal loss in passing the causeway. The enemy 
pursued our troops to Winter Hill, where the Provincials, being re-enforced by 
Gen. Putnam, renewed the battle with great spirit, repulsed the enemy with 
great slaughter, and pursued them till they got under cover of their cannon 
from the shipping, when the enemy retreated to Bunker's Hill and the Pro- 
vincials to Winter Hill, where, after intrenching and erecting batteries, they, 
on Monday [19th], began to fire upon the regulars on Bunker's Hill and on 
the ships and floating batteries in the harbor, when the express came away." 





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NEW HISTORY 



BATTLE OF BUNKER HILL, 

June 17, 1775, 

Its Purpose, Conduct, and Result 



WILLIAM W. WHEILDON. 



BOSTOX : 

NEW YORK: 
LEE, SHEPARD, & DILLINGHAM. 

1875. 



< 



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Weinoir of Solomon Willardf Architect and Superintend- 
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Contributions to Thouglitf by William W. Wheildon, 

Fellow of the American Association for llic advancement of Science. 12mo. 
pp. 236. 1875. 

'• The author entitles the volume " Cotytrihuiions to Thoughf^; and its contents justi 
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Letters from Nahant : Historical, Descriptive, and Miscel- 
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JPcipevS published by the American Association for the Ad- 
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1. Atmospheric Theory of the Open Polar Sea, with remarks on tlic 

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BEACON HILL MONUMENT. 

Huilt 1790, taken down 181 1. 

A Historical Monograph prepared by William W. Wheildon, 
for the Bunker Hill Monument Association. 



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